Match 29 – Sydney Thunder Women vs Hobart Hurricanes Women at Sydney Showground Stadium, Sydney

Playing XI of Sydney Thunder – Harmanpreet Kaur, Stafanie Taylor, Rachael Haynes, Alex Blackwell (c), Rachel Priest (wk), Rene Farrell, Naomi Stalenberg, Nicola Carey, Maisy Gibson, Samantha Bates, Lisa Griffith

Playing XI of Hobart Hurricanes – Heather Knight, Smriti Mandhana, Alex Hartley, Corinne Hall, Stefanie Daffara, Brooke Hepburn, Mikayla Hinkley, Sasha Moloney (c), Meg Phillips, Georgia Redmayne (wk), Erin Fazackerley

Toss – Won by Sydney Thunder Women and elected to bowl first

1^st Innings Summary – Indian batter Smriti Mandhana and Stefanie Daffara helped Hobart Hurricanes to recover quickly from the loss of Erin Fazackerley in the very first over of the innings. After them, Heather Knight gave a vital contribution before getting run out. Later in the innings there were two more run outs. No matter whether its poor running between the wickets or misjudging the run or simply some excellent fielding efforts, batting side is always at an additional loss in run outs. Hobart Hurricanes lost their momentum and run rate slowed down further. As the pressure of scoring runs built up, batters committed mistakes and the entire team was bowled out in 19.4 overs. Rene Farrell and Maisy Gibson were the most economical and successful bowlers for Sydney Thunder Women.

2^nd Innings Summary – Chasing a modest total, Sydney Thunder openers adopted an aggressive approach and it seemed they wanted to finish the game as soon as possible. Rachael Haynes made 68 runs in 48 balls and remained unbeaten till the end. With the valuable contributions of upper middle order batters, Sydney Thunder Women achieved the target with 3.2 overs still remaining. Although Brooke Hepburn and Heather Knight did appreciable job with the ball but due to lack of support from other bowlers, their effort proved to be insufficient to defend the small total.

Player of the match – Rachael Haynes for her brilliant knock laced with nine 4s and a six

Brief scorecard:

Hobart Hurricanes Women – 135/10 (19.4 overs)

Sydney Thunder Women – 136/4 (16.4 overs)

Result – Sydney Thunder Women won by 6 wickets

Kanika Parineeta

‘Gully’ cricket player and close observer of Indian Cricket team and it’s matches. Straight forward and still socially admirable personality. Strong belief in teamwork and possess high leadership skills.